This impact report was produced by the the University of Reading PAR Team.
This report captures five years of the Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR) programme, which has trained and supported 85 community researchers across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Kent and Medway, Surrey and Sussex to lead research into health inequalities affecting their own communities.
The report traces the career pathways of researchers trained across CPAR’s three cohorts (2021–22, 2023–24, and 2024–25), and sets out the wider impact of the programme on employment, further education, community services and health policy across the South-East.
IVAR has been a delivery partner throughout CPAR since 2021, facilitating workshops and learning spaces alongside the University of Reading, NHS England and the Scottish Community Development Centre, to help maximise the potential of community-led research to shape priorities and service development. This report reflects on what that partnership has achieved, and what it suggests for the future of community-centred approaches to tackling health inequalities.
